[SpA]Relentless

Neutral gameplay (what to do when noone has the advantage) Oki (general tips & stuff, for example throw A lobelia after 5CC > frog oki to punish rolls and get a rod out for further mixups) Maybe characterspecific tips that you might not find out yourself at first, but that's useful to know (for example wind tech out of Lambda's wheel oki, 3C to anticipate Noel's CA etc.) Is some stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Don't know if those are enough on their own though. "off-topic": I just realised N-O played Rachel since CT: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=151F6C61598AFA81

Okay true, in that case it's of course different and legit oki : )

If you get a 5B starter with 50% heat and 4 winds.... can't you kind of get one combo that does a similar amount without the need for a reset? I'm really not a fan of unneeded resets, from a late BBL it's okay but why waste guaranteed damage from a 5B starter with 4 winds and 50 heat? I'm thinking something along the lines of 5B > 5CD > 3C > (7D if needed) BBL > sj.8D > j.2CD (Lv3) > 214A> 3C(2-3) > 236C (frog hits) > 5B > jc > j.C > 2D > djc > j.2C(Lv2) > 236B > j.C > djc > j.C > j.214C Also builds more meter and if you get another 50% heat, you can BBL again, set frog, then do a crossunder reset, and if it hits, you can do a fresh combo, which means both combos will total around 8,5k.

No Lumin, I think you're right and those are good ideas. Whenever people ask me about how to learn Rachel I still point them to kro_'s CT guide because apart from the combo section, 95% of it still applies to CS2 Rachel. So doing a CS2 tutorial now will still help people in CSEX (best abbreviation ever lol).

4B should be kara-cancelable into a low move until frame 26 or so.

Rachel v. Taokaka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io-KwS90m8I Platinum v. Rachel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=17m50s Platinum v. Rachel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=20m8s Platinum v. Rachel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=34m Platinum v. Rachel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=37m26s Platinum v. Rachel (N-O) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=40m39s Platinum v. Rachel (N-O) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=44m26s Platinum v. Rachel (N-O) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=47m45s Platinum v. Rachel (N-O) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRAGbVJFhIc#t=51m12s Rachel (Sesu) v. Mu-12 (susuki) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtisJhSX2K0 (Sound cuts out after about 20secs, better watch it on nico) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15730343 Rachel (Sesu) v. Lambda (MP) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtisJhSX2K0#t=3m47s http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15730343 at 3:47

HOLY FUCKING SHIT TECHNOPOLIS UPLOADED NEW VIDEOS THAT MEANS MORE SESU!! E: Unhype, only two matches :/ Well better than nothing I suppose.

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Rachel (Dalma) v. Jin (raian) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiULnOA-KiM#t=9m42s Rachel (Dalma) v. Ragna (yaguruma) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFMa6Hn09z8 ^At 1:05 Nice crossup reset on a standing opponent, too bad that Ragna player was aware. Rachel (Dalma) v. Mu-12 (Gμu) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFMa6Hn09z8#t=5m57s Sick players and you can tell they totally know each other and the matchups and you can tell they are aware of everything all the time (for example there's one moment in the Rachel vs Mu match where Dalma gets a CH Iris, but doesn't start approaching because he knew the laser would come back at him). I'm really liking what I see and I'm hoping there will be more.

I do have a PS2, but no AC. But even if I did, I'd have no stick for the PS2... i'm currently trying to get AC to work on a PS2 Emu. Melty Blood works decently enough but it crashes at GG. If that keeps failing I'm stuck with #R

Theory: All GG players are godlike BB players. Plan: Learn GG, become a better BB player

N-O is now my favorite JPN Rachel player. His style is so similar to mine, except he also got the fundamentals to back it up :S

I agree with Alex. In my opinion Tsubaki is like Ragna but with better mobility, overall better damage from combos (especially meterless), and moves that actually have projectile invulnerability, and her 5B is godlike too. She can also carry you to the corner completely with just one combo. She has an overhead and a low with the same amount of startup and the startup animation of those moves look very similar. Get used to them and try to be able to distinguish between them. The player I was playing against told me that I need to listen to her voice. High voice = overhead, low voice = low. I wasn't able to confirm this though (it was very loud around us when we played ) and didn't test yet. You can't really zone her/do pole setups etc. because then she can just stay full screen and fill up her drive meter, and you DEFINITELY don't want her to get drive meter. 236D is very fucking annoyingly fast, +2 on block and grants her a free combo on normal hit. And if she has a few bars of drive meter, then she has no reason to give up oki on you. Also watch out for 22D unblockable resets (39f startup for the charged unblockable version). I think this matchup is best played straight rushing her down with winded airdashes and with pumpkin support. Don't give her time to breathe and charge. And make sure to bait her DP from time to time when you knocked her down. Frog + 2C should work well for this.

That combo part was in the Dance to Wind combo movie as well. In the movie they did midscreen BBL instead though. This is a nice meterless variation but it only works if you completely carried your opponent into tne corner, because midscreen you crossunder after j.2C. Midscreen BBL is also characterspecific (doesn't hit everyone fully).

Jin v. Rachel (Matsu) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbDn6HKS4_M Ragna v. Rachel (Matsu) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unkMNnldKH4#t=8m6s Rachel (Matsu) v. Makoto (Keita) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrwxGlD8Xlk Rachel (Matsu) v. Hazama (Teruwo) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrwxGlD8Xlk#t=3m58s Rachel (Matsu) v. Tager (Akira) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrwxGlD8Xlk#t=7m7s

Fail on my part, I actually meant to say after the first hit (like in my original post). But anyway, I thought about it again and came to the conclusion that close range shouldn't really matter. Most of the time when you hit the opponent with close range 5B, you either go for a 6CD corner carry or a 5CC corner combo. And if the close range 5B is blocked, you better mixup with 2B because it doesn't end your pressure. In CT close range 5B 3C9D was used for mixup because that was the only low option you had after 5B. Since you can gatling to 2B now, it's not useful anymore. So the only range where 3C9D is really useful is far range: -where 2B and 6CD don't hit anymore -when you want to still have a halfway decent high-low mixup (6B3D > jc > j.A or 6B > 3C9D) -when you want to keep a combo going on a far away crouching opponent (since 3D > jc > j.B > j.C only works on standing opponents) And since we now know that far range 3C9D works on everyone except Noel with the same basic timing (input 9D before 3C comes out), the only thing that now matters is how hard it is on different characters to continue the combo. On Tager it's kinda butt, but on everyone else it's certainly doable. However it's still easier to do 6BD 3C8D for a combo and it works from farther away, and since Rachel almost never runs out of wind in CS2... I guess I just answered myself why Japanese Rachel players don't use 3C9D anymore I'll still try and use it at least for mid-far range

If you're getting 720ed after TK iris then you're seriously doing something wrong cause that's +24 on block. I agree, I actually think it might be a good idea to start getting used to using 5A in pressure and using 5A and 5B only for jc-mixups as preparation for Extend.

It might be the possible on most chars where I wrote "after 1st hit" that it also works after the 2nd hit (didn't test very thouroghly cause anytime I started P-mode, I was required to play in the MBAA/MOTW tournament, or someone wanted to play casuals with me ). But on Tager, Arakune and Mu it definitely doesn't work after the 2nd hit, and on Litchi and Platinum it definitely doesn't work between the 1st & 2nd hit. I actually didn't test 3C(3) on any char, cause I was happy with the first result that worked No, forgot about that. But as Tari said, it should work if it didn't prorate too much yet. I think j.[C] > j.C > jc > j.C > j.214C might also work for low proration but I suck at j.[C] combos.

3C9D breakdown per character I tested two different ranges for this. Close range is point-blank 5B > 3C9D > 5B. Far range is the range you get to when you're point-blank to the enemy, then do 5A(2) > 5B > 6B > 3C9D > 5B. This is pretty much the max range where you can hit with 3C9D > 5B. For anything farther you will be required to use 6BD > 3C8D > 5B. I didn't test the ranges between those two but I think the rules are the same as for far range. Only close range is really different. Close Range On these characters you have to do 9D after the 1st hit of 3C: Hazama, Lambda, Taokaka, Jin, Bang, Hakumen, Tsubaki, Makoto, Valkenhayn -On Hakumen, Tsubaki and Valkenhayn, if you try to continue the combo with j.2C(Lv2) > 236B > j.C > djc > j.C > j.214C, Sword Iris will whiff due to the way 9D pushes you towards the opponent. On Tsubaki you also run risk of completely missing with the 236B, you have to be very exact. On Tsubaki it is possible to connect the whole combo if you do 3C9D > 5B > 8jc > j.C > 2D > 8djc > j.2C(Lv2) > etc. (9D pushes you into the opponent so it works with neutral jumps), but it's not very reliable. -On Tsubaki, the 2nd hit of 3C sometimes whiffs but the 3rd hit connects again. This can really throw of your timing so be prepared. On these characters you have to 9D after either the 1st or 2nd hit of 3C: Ragna, Rachel, Carl -Sword Iris whiffs on Ragna. On these characters you have to 9D either before the first hit of 3C or after the 2nd hit of 3C, but not after the first hit of 3C: Arakune, Mu -On Mu, you have to enter 9D very early if you want to do it before the first hit of 3C, a little too late and you will crossunder. If you 9D after the 2nd hit of 3C, Sword Iris will whiff on her. On these characters you have to enter 9D specifically between the 2nd and 3rd hit of 3C: Litchi, Platinum -On Litchi the 3rd hit of 3C will whiff most of the time so be prepared. -Sword Iris whiffs on both Platinum and Litchi. On this character you have to enter 9D before the first hit of 3C: Tager Far range For far range, you have to enter 9D before the first of 3C for every character. On some characters it's easier than on others though but it basically works on everyone. - On Tager, the 2nd and 3rd hit of 3C sometimes whiff and the timing is generally very weird on him. - On Litchi, Hakumen, Valkenhayn and Platinum, Sword Iris whiffs. On everyone else it should connect (even on the characters where it whiffed at close range 3C9D). Other notes: -I find that with 3C9D I got the most consistent timing for j.2C(Lv2) frog combos because you're forced to hit with 5B at a very late moment. -On this character, 3C9D > 5B does not work at all: NOEL It's up to you if you want to try and memorize all that and try to integrate it into your gameplan, or if you want to take post-it notes to your matches I'm not sure if I have the motivation myself to remember all that, but anyway, it's here now :X

I'll test it today and see what I can come up with, I'm really curious now.

It's obvious that you use some kind of forward wind if you use 3C as mixup (most commonly 5D) and also for combos. However the point is, if 3C hits you have to burn another wind (8D) to continue the combo, whereas 9D would work as both the forward momentum for the mixup/combo into 3C and the upwards momentum for continuing the combo if 3C hits. Considering that you also need another wind for a decent air combo (j.2C(Lv2)), that would be such a huge plus if you were able to integrate it in your game consistently (only of course if 3C9D does work consistently, ie you're not crossing under everytime, some hits whiff or stuff like that).

Tager (pet) v. Rachel (memai) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MppAUoxvoOA#t=4m7s

Main upside of 3C9D is that is uses one less wind than the 8D route (eg 2A 5B 6BD 3C8D continue; compared to 2A 5B 6B 3C9D). The problem is that the only normals were it makes sense to use 3C9D are 5B and 6B. You can of course do it from 5C, but anytime you're using 5C, you're using forward wind so it destroys the purpose. You could also do it from 2B but that's already a low so you don't actually have a mixup here if the previous hits where blocked. Now the problem with 5B and 6B is that they are both jump cancelable, which means that you have to truly have to enter 3C first and 9D second, or else you'll jumpcancel your normal and completely mess up everything. If you are farther away, this can be a problem because the first hit of 3C will most likely miss and the combo will end.

Huh, I just wonder why. 3C9D was completely viable in CT but the hitbox has since supposedly gotten better so it doesn't really make sense. I think I'll do some research on which chars and under which circumstances 3C9D can still be used.

By the way, is there a reason why Rachel players don't use 3C9D anymore, but instead blabla 5D 3C, then 8D if it hits? It randomly came to mind today and it seems like a waste of wind tbh, and unless there's a good reason not to I'll try and incorporate it into my gameplan again.

Regarding GG music: I like Millia's and Dizzy's theme the most, but I don't really know any other themes so w/e. But I guess it's alright. Once I was playing GG with a friend and someone else besides us played Smash, and he asked us to turn down the volume because the game was too loud. And my friend was like "He wants us to turn off Guilty Gear music.....". That option isn't even available in the settings, is it? Regarding Button Layouts: I play B-style, when I started BB it made more sense to me than A-Style because I came from SF and having the weak to strong attack in a row just seemed right to me. I'm however currently trying to learn a bit Garou MOTW (for those not knowing, the game uses LP, LK, HP and HK as attacks, referred to as A,B,C and D) and I'm trying to use more of a GG style layout for that game (so basically BB A-Style) because having HK on the SF LK button makes no sense to me, and the SNK style square layout of the original is not something I want to get used to either :X